Banned books are restricting freedom of speech

“Will the man in the street ever feel that freedom of the mind is as important and as much in need of being defended as his daily bread?” — George Orwell in “Orwell on Freedom” (2018)

This week is Banned Books Week, an awareness campaign promoting the freedom to read, seek information and express ideas, as protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This annual event started in response to an uptick in book challenges and bans in schools and public libraries. Over time, we have seen these challenges rise and fall from year to year, but the last few years have seen a significant increase in challenges amidst political polarization. According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association, 92% of these censorship attempts came from pressure groups and government officials in 2025, which was a 20% increase from the year before.

These pressures and threats to intellectual freedom also affect academic institutions like ours. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) advocates for free speech on college campuses for individuals across the political spectrum through case advocacy, public education programming and the publishing of their annual College Free Speech Rankings report. This year, 46% of the institutions surveyed scored an F for their censorship activities, including cancelling controversial events and limiting students’ rights to protest. Visit fire. org for more information about their work.

The research community is also affected by whoever is in power in our federal government, with grant funding being doled out only to projects and topics prioritized by Congress and the White House. This puts the very fabric of our society at risk; if funding is biased toward one end of the political spectrum, what scientific discoveries are we missing out on or delaying that could change our world for the better? For more information on what is happening to scientific research funding within our current administration, visit grantwitness.org.

Libraries were built on the principle that our spaces and services are for free exploration and expression of information and ideas. The American Library Association Bill of Rights lists these commitments as follows:

Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background or views of those contributing to their creation.

Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background or views.

Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

All people, regardless of origin, age, background or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.

As college students in the United States, you all have a right to research and share ideas on whatever topics or issues are interesting and important to you. We know what we know about this world because others like you have explored difficult and important questions that affect us all. The CSB+SJU libraries are here to support you in that right, and we will continue to defend intellectual freedom today and every day moving forward.

For more information on intellectual freedom in libraries, visit ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom.